Nio increases turnover and net loss

Chinese electric car manufacturer Nio has presented its business figures for 2023. Although the company was able to increase deliveries and turnover noticeably, losses have also increased significantly. There is also news about the new sub-brand Alps.

In concrete terms, the balance sheet shows a turnover of 55.6 billion yuan, or the equivalent of 7.1 billion euros, 12.9 per cent more than in 2022. A first (small) but: Nio increased deliveries by 30.7 per cent (to 160,038 vehicles), which is significantly higher than its turnover. On average, each delivered vehicle generated less revenue than the previous year. That is because of the portfolio expansion to include more affordable models and industry-wide price reductions.

The big but: Despite the increase in revenue, Nio has not come any closer to breaking even. The company reported a net loss of 20.7 billion yuan for 2023, the equivalent of 2.65 billion euros. That means Nio has actually widened its losses, as the 20 billion yuan is 43.5 per cent more than in the previous year.

However, there are also positive developments. Nio had fallen below the 10,000 deliveries per month mark in some quarters of 2022 and again at the beginning of 2023. In Q4 2023, Nio was unable to match the record from Q3 (55,432 vehicles), but with over 50,000 units, it was still a step in the right direction. However, with 10,055 vehicles in January and 8,132 units in February, the start of 2024 was again a step backwards.

Nio founder and CEO William Li emphasises that the company has achieved an average price of over 300,000 yuan per vehicle, placing it first in the Chinese premium BEV market. “Our continuous investments in technologies, battery swapping network and user community will bolster our competitive advantages as we navigate the future competition,” says Li. In other words, investment expenditure, which is already high for a company of this size, is unlikely to drop. Specifically, Nio announced the premiere of the ET9, a higher computing power for the vehicles and, for the second quarter, the “Navigate on Pilot Plus” function in urban traffic for the NT2.0 vehicles – i.e. the current model generation.

However, as a company, Nio is investing in its main brand and the infrastructure for battery replacement, and the new Alps sub-brand. It will launch in Q2/2024, as Nio announced in the subsequent analyst call. An electric crossover the size of a Tesla Model Y will follow in Q3. The vehicle will be delivered in larger numbers as early as the fourth quarter. Incidentally, the comparison with the Model Y is not only being made by the media, but also by Nio itself. Prototypes of the model were photographed with lettering on the rear windscreen that confidently states: “Better than the Model Y.”

Although there have been repeated reports of financial problems at Nio in China over the past year, high start-up investments in a new brand do not necessarily fit the picture. However, unlike in the past, Nio did not question its own future in the annual report. So at least the current plans appear to be financed.

nio.com, carnewschina.com, cnevpost.com